In our Parsha, Chayei Sarah, Abraham buries his wife Sarah in what was the very first Jewish burial. Why do we bury the body? In Tibet bodies are left out to be eaten by birds; in many societies bodies are cremated. Why does Jewish law insist on burial? The answer lies in our attitude to…
The Importance of Hebron. What does the city of Hebron teach us about the Jewish people? View this video directly on Vimeo
In this week’s Torah portion, our matriarch, Sarah, is described as beautiful, as other great women in the Torah in numerous places. So clearly, beauty is considered a quality, and yet, we know that modesty is also considered of great value in Judaism. So this week we will talk a little about modesty. He has…
What’s so funny about the Jewish people? Rabbi Becher examines why our ancestor called Isaac is named after laughter? View this video directly on Vimeo. This week’s Vlog is sponsored in memory of Mildred Glatter, Malka bas Yisroel.
Rabbi Becher explores the suddenness with which G-d speaks with Abraham and what this implies about His relationship with the Jewish people. View this video directly on Vimeo
This week’s parsha, Lech Lecha, begins with the first commandment G-d ever gave to the first Jew in history which was to go to the Land of Israel. G-d spoke to Abraham, and said: Go, from your land, from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And…
True Offspring: Rabbi Becher shows how the Torah encodes a major life lesson using a subtle structural change in the order of a sentence. View this video directly on Vimeo.
God rewards those who fulfill His commandments and punishes those who transgress them. The ultimate reward is the World to Come, and the ultimate punishment is excision of the soul [the soul is cut off from any connection to the spiritual existence of the World to Come.]107 As the verse states, “Moses returned to God…
Rabbi Becher talks about The Passion and the Love of Simchat Torah View this video directly on Vimeo
Originally, different customs existed regarding the reading of the Torah on Shabbat. In Israel, the Torah was read in a three-year cycle, while in Babylon the custom was a yearly cycle. Eventually, the Babylonian custom became universally accepted, and to this day Jews throughout the world publicly read the entire Five Books of Moses in…